I don't do busy.Well, normally.
When the planets align, I have a plan that I stick to very closely. I go to work early, get things organized, help a lot of students in the library, go home, talk to my daughter, snuggle with my dog, and read for five hours before going to bed early and repeating this routine.
Cross Country season, ailing parents and LIFE has gotten in the way of this recently.
Practice goes from 3-5, except on Tuesday, when we have meets and I get home closer to 7. We also go to invitationals on Saturday mornings, so instead of sleeping in and going grocery shopping, I leave the house at 6:00 a.m., stand in fields yelling at children for a while, and get home about 2 p.m. Naps occasionally happen despite the best plans. Visiting my parents and doing a variety of chores for them takes some time as well.
"Losing" a few hours a day throws my plans into chaos: my dining room table is full of all the clothes I have worn during the week, books pile up unread in my office, and meals become just plain weird-- last night Picky Reader and I had scrambled eggs and couscous. I put the last of the garden tomatoes on mine.
Because of the way my days are normally structured, I read a lot. When I don't, I get antsy. I also like my world to be tidy. REALLY tidy. When it isn't, I don't feel comfortable.
Cross Country is a really worthwhile endeavor, and I love supporting the students and getting to know them in another setting. That said, when we have our final meet on October 7, I will be a bit relieved. I will be glad to go to Kidlitcon in Sacramento that weekend and meet old blogging friends for the first time. Then, when I return home I can once again spend more time talking to my daughter while rubbing the dog's stomach, read lots of books, and corral all the untidy piles of LIFE that have accumulated in all the corners of my world.
Oh, and get to work on reading all of the CYBILS middle grade fiction nominations. That starts 1 October!
Wow. 5 hours!!! That's impressive!
ReplyDeleteI also hate being busy. I try to schedule and structure my life so that I don't feel rushed and I have a lot of quiet time for myself to read, write, think. That's how I function best, and while I sometimes think it might be fun to be a social butterfly and get involved with lots of activities, I'm never happy when I try that out. One of the joys in getting older has been understanding myself better and accepting who I am and how I prefer to do things. I can definitely understand the feeling of relief you will have when cross country is over and you can get back to your regularly scheduled routine!
ReplyDelete